Ernest Hemingway was a true artist, not in the conventional term, but as a painter with words. This week I read the next three installments of "The Moveable Feast", and I must say I was as equally enthralled as I was the last time. Mr. Hemingway has a way -in effort to not sound redundant- of making the most mundane situations, people, and places the most interesting.

Chapter 3, entitled "Shakespeare and Company", is about a rental library and bookstore in Paris, owned by Sylvia Beach. Although he is poor and doesn't have the money at the time, Sylvia allows him to take as many books as he wants. This kindness overwhelms him, as you can see throughout the passage. He takes great care in describing her personality and physical characteristics, and it is easy to see that he is fond of her.

In "People of the Seine", Hemingway recalls a conversation that he had with a woman stall-keeper about English books. The Tour D'Argent restaurant also offered rooms above the eatery, and whenever guests left books behind they would be put into a bookstall to be sold. English books were sold cheap because they were bound poorly and therefore had no value. Also, in Chapter 4, Hemingway tells of the fishermen in the Seine and how beautiful the rivers were.

"A False Spring" is about the trivial time between winter and spring when the seasons are just at the brink of switching. When spring came people were the happiest. The cold rain and wind were put behind them, and they had only warm weather and nice breezes to look forward to. He also recounts of going to the horse races with his wife, Hadley, and how they had gained enough money gambling to go to an expensive restaurant, Michaud's. I think that he is comparing his life to the seasons. Since he is "poor", their life is a constant struggle to make ends meet. Spring is like a false sense of hope - that things are going to get better soon. And I think that's what we are all trying to do in life: give ourselves enough hope to push through each day.